Demons of the Mountain
by Fenrir Draca
Summary: Cloud, along with Vincent and Chaos, live on Mt. Nibel, as demons. However, some type of monster is terrorizing the nearby town of Nibelheim, which attracts the attention of Shinra. A certain four SOLDIERs come to investigate the murders.SGC AZ VC
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Demons of the Mountain

**Summary:** Cloud, along with Vincent and Chaos, live on Mt. Nibel, as demons, peacefully minding their own business. However, some type of monster is targeting the villagers of the nearby village, Nibelheim, and four certain SOLDIERs come to investigate. They find the demons, but the demons did not want to be found by mere humans. Coming to a shaky truce, the demons and SOLDIERs decide to work together. But will that eventually spark something in the cold heart of Cloud?

**Pairings:** Sephiroth/Genesis (eventual Seph/Gen/Cloud), Angeal/Zack, Vincent/Chaos

**Disclaimer:** I'm only going to say this once, I do not own anything in this story besides the plot. Though, I can say that I really wish I did.

**Author's Note:** I haven't actually played the FFVII games, though I have played the beginning of the original, but then it broke. All of the information I have is from reading the fanfics on here, and maybe a little bit about Cloud and Seph from KH. If I get anything wrong or the characters are OOC (which is to be expected when they aren't your own characters) you'll have to excuse me about it. I am open, however, to constructive criticism and corrections if you feel the need to help me. Though if it's not nice, they don't say anything, I usually ignore it if it is.

This is a yaoi fic, so if you don't like guys getting together with other guys, I don't know why you're here, so you might as well get out because I don't want to hear you complain about it.

**Chapter 1**

Cloud walked out into the forest; trying to get the cave he and his companions lived in out of ear shot as his friends … ah, got to know each other. Not that they didn't already know each other _very_ well, but that was beside the point. The point is Cloud didn't want to hear it.

As he walked through the trees, the creatures, animal and monster alike, scurried away from him. They knew very well that it would be completely futile to try and mistake him as a human. He was simply too strong, too fast. And even if he didn't have his specialized sword strapped to his back, the points on his demonic, bat-like wings would make up for it. If he didn't feel like using his hands.

As he walked closer to the nearby town—unwittingly, seeing as he wasn't really paying attention to where he was going—he could hear terrified screaming and roars that didn't belong to the humans. He watched as a man ran past him, eyes wide in terror, but not screaming, obviously trying to not draw attention to himself. Most likely, he would get lost in the forest, especially at night, but Cloud only watched, not bothering to go and help him.

None of the demons that lived on Mount Nibel cared if the humans killed themselves. They didn't care what they did as long as they didn't get in their way. Why would they? They were demons. While they didn't despise humans, they didn't love them either.

They were, after all, the reason that they were forced to live in a cave at the top of the mountain in the middle of winter. Luckily, it was spring now, nearly summer, so the snow wasn't nearly as cold, even if it was still there and would most likely never disappear since they were so high up on the mountain.

Cloud looked up at the sky, judging that it had been a couple hours since he had left the cave. Even so, there was nothing guaranteeing that his companions would be finished. Deciding to take a chance, Cloud started his trek back up the mountain. Slowly, of course, because who would want to hear _that_, especially when they themselves had no one to experience it with.

* * *

><p>Zack bounded into the legendary, silver-haired General Sephiroth's office, not bothering to stop and knock. The black, spiky haired SOLDIER didn't even pause as he registered the other two people, besides the owner of the office, in the room and he quickly glomped his lover.<p>

"Angeal! Angeal, Angeal, Angeal—"

"We get it!" Genesis, the SOLDIER with chin length auburn hair and a long, red, leather jacket, exclaimed, glaring at the youngest of them, who was also dubbed the "puppy".

"What did you need, pup?" Angeal, the one with the gigantic sword on his back and short black hair, asked.

Zack blinked up at him. "I need to want something to come say 'hi'?"

Sephiroth sighed, rubbing his temples, having long since given up on trying to get work done while his two friends were in the room, particularly Genesis. "It certainly would be better."

"For all of us," Genesis added.

The puppy pouted, finally letting go of Angeal. "Fine! If you must know, Lazard sent me up here to say that all of us are wanted for a mission and to go to him to get the details."

Genesis groaned, slowly—dramatically—standing up from the couch he had been lounging on. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at him.

"I though you wanted to get out of here and do something?"

"I do! But I was comfortable where I was. Couldn't he have just sent us the details?"

Angeal walked out the door, deciding he didn't want to hear his childhood friend complain, Zack following close after him. Genesis and Sephiroth followed just a few moments later. They walked in silence … mostly. Zack chatted animatedly about things only Angeal was _trying_ to keep track of. He was failing rather miserably at it.

When they finally reached Director Lazard's office, Zack barged right in, much like he did when he entered Sephiroth's office. Lazard looked up, clearly unsurprised that that would happen.

"Ah, there you are," he commented as the four SOLDIERs filed into the room. He handed a file to Sephiroth before continuing, not bothering to stop as the silver-haired general read through it. "I need the four of you to go to Nibelheim and find whatever monster has been terrorizing and killing the villagers there."

Genesis sighed dejectedly while Zack's shoulders slumped, both clearly thinking the same thing.

"Why are we going instead of some third? It's just a small monster outbreak, right?" Zack asked.

Lazard shook his head. "I'm afraid not. The SOLDIERs that are already stationed there told me that they need help and can't handle it. Seems that every time they try to engage it, they get seriously hurt and they still have yet to see what it is."

That perked up the two, but only a bit as they were still skeptical why _they_ were needed. Why would they need all four of the strongest SOLDIERs for a simple monster hunt?

Angeal read over the file when Sephiroth handed it to him. When he was done, he handed it to Genesis and asked, "When do we leave?"

"First thing in the morning. If that is all, you are dismissed."

They left and walked back to Sephiroth's office much the same way they did coming. Except this time, Zack was talking about all that could go on while they were on their mission while Sephiroth examined the file, looking for any clue as to what the monster was.

"Find anything?" Angeal asked when they closed the door to the office and settled into their respective places.

"None. It could be nearly anything. The bodies are basically torn to shreds with some parts missing, indicating that those parts were missing. It seems as if the monster doing this doesn't care what it eats, for not all missing limbs are the same. Though how the SOLDIERs stationed there have never gotten a look at what it is, is beyond me," Sephiroth answered.

"Guess we'll just have to figure out what it is on our own," Genesis commented, lounging on the couch again.

Zack was bouncing in his chair. "Do you think that this monster will be something that we've never seen before?"

Genesis snorted. "Doubt it. If anything, it will be a rather easy fight and we'll be back within a day or two."

The puppy's hyperactive bouncing settled down for a moment before resuming.

Angeal shook his head fondly. "Come on, pup, let's go get ready."

As the two left, Genesis got up and rounded the desk. Sephiroth pulled the crimson commander into his lap, kissing him on the mouth. Genesis returned it, grinning when they pulled apart.

"So we have to go on a mission with the puppy?" he complained.

Sephiroth nearly rolled his eyes. "You can deal with it. You said it yourself; we most likely will not be there for very long."

Genesis sighed, laying his head back on the general's shoulder. They sat in silence for a little bit longer, before Sephiroth kicked him out to get ready for the mission or do his own work so that the general could at least get a bit of the paperwork done before he himself went to go pack.

In the morning, all four of them boarded the helicopter that was bound for the little mountain village of Nibelheim. All were expecting to be back in a couple of days. All thinking that this would be more like a vacation than anything else. None knew that this would be much more than that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Cloud woke the next morning to the sound of a low, whispered conversation, but it was then preceded by the wet sounds of a kiss. He groaned, throwing his pillow at the other two demons without even looking. So, despite the fact that he knew exactly where the other bed in the cavern was, it came as no surprise when he heard the guttural mocking laugher of Chaos.

"You missed."

Cloud rolled over to glare at the most demonic looking of them all. Chaos had two horns, both of which were naturally bent, sticking out from the top of his head, golden eyes, and large demonic wings coming from his back. Cloud and Vincent only had wings to show that they were demons, except Vincent had crimson red eyes, and his torn up, red cloak didn't exactly invite people to think he was friendly. They were all pale, but considering where they lived, that part of it didn't seem to deter the humans as much as the other things.

"Why do I always have to wake up to the sound of you two kissing?"

"Maybe you wouldn't if you woke up just little bit earlier or later," Chaos replied, grinning wickedly. He always loved to play and tease with the other two, but even more so with any humans that he happened to come across, which didn't happen very much. He loved to scare people.

Cloud sighed, sitting up and leaving the sleeping cavern as the other two went back to what they were doing. He hoped that it would escalate into what they were doing last night, because he didn't really want to have to get that far away from the cave he had just exited.

There were times when he felt left out, when he was jealous that they were happy with each other when he had no one. He didn't blame them. No, he was happy for them, he just wished that he could meet someone who didn't care what he was, but who he was. Someone that he could love. Who could love him in return.

But that was unlikely. Who would love a demon when they were not one, themselves? Someone like Cloud was extremely unlikely to find a partner in life.

It was a fairy tale. Something that demon kind did not believe in or hope for. Unless of course you could find someone among your own kind. Cloud didn't even know how many of his kind there was. He had met few outside of Chaos and Vincent. And he probably wouldn't meet many if he stayed on the mountain.

But he was content where he was, so why would he want to leave just to meet someone out of a rare race anyway?

"Cloud," a voice called.

He turned around to see the red cloaked figure of Vincent. Cloud nodded in acknowledgement before turning back around and continued on his path, walking slowly toward nothing. He heard Vincent fall into step with him. They two companions were silent as they walked.

Cloud half expected Chaos to pop out of nowhere and try and scare them—namely Cloud. But he didn't, which was a relief, because he just didn't want to deal with him. It was hard enough to deal with him the rest of the time, he didn't need to deal with the malicious demon when there was already one person invading on a time he wanted to spend by himself.

"It seems there have been more humans coming up into the border of our territory," Vincent stated. "We've found several bodies in the last few days alone. The rate is higher than it usually is." He didn't sound particularly interested, more like he just found it odd but didn't really care.

"What does this have to do with us?" Cloud asked.

He shrugged. "It is curious. Normally, the humans stay away from the border."

"Yes, but I could care less about what the humans do. They can take care of themselves, or so they say."

Vincent nodded, not bothering to argue for something that he didn't care about, and knew it wouldn't matter either way. Whatever the humans had going on didn't affect them. They could take care of themselves, or perish by themselves for lack of competence.

Suddenly, a roar and frightened animal cries rang through the air. It was soon followed by malicious, mocking laughter and loud _BANG_s. The two men only sighed, not bothering to even go and watch their other companion have his fun.

* * *

><p>When the helicopter carrying the four SOLDIERs landed they were all positively bored and wanting to get their mission started, and then over with. The villagers of Nibelheim were standing around, watching them as they got out, stretched, and walk over to the inn. They ignored the staring eyes as they rented two rooms, one for Genesis and Sephiroth, one for Angeal and Zack. They were used to being stared at. After all, they were the most elite SOLDIERs in the entire world. And despite the fact that they all looked wary, there was a light of recognition and excitement as the SOLDIERs were spotted, particularly Sephiroth.<p>

They settled into their rooms, not really sure where to start for their mission. Genesis lounged on the bed he would be sharing with Sephiroth, watching as the general stared out the window at the village. He knew that he was studying the obvious damage this monster had left behind.

Buildings were knocked down, no one bothering to pick up the debris; others had deep gashes that looked like they had been made by gigantic claws. There was even the occasional scorch mark on the ground. The people themselves looked haggard, terrified, and tired. Whatever was going on had obviously been sudden, and had not stopped since.

Even though Genesis didn't understand why they were so scared over a simple monster—there were billions on this mountain!—he did understand the fear of the unknown. He knew that he absolutely hated not knowing what was going on. He also knew that the other three SOLDIERs that were with him felt the same, especially Sephiroth.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Angeal and Zack. The older of the two looked rather grim, while the puppy just looked bored, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"I went down to talk to some of the villagers about the monster," Angeal stated, sitting in a chair at the small table. "Seems that that some people have seen some kind of huge shadow with large horns. However, last night, one man ended up running away from the village in an effort to find something that could help them. He said he saw a man standing within in the trees, just outside of eye sight of the village."

"You think this person is behind the attacks?" Sephiroth questioned.

Angeal shrugged. "It is possible. He could be summoning a creature to do the work for him."

"But why? Why would he want to destroy such an innocent village that probably has nothing to do with him?" Zack asked, plopping down on the bed next to Genesis.

"Pup, this place probably does mean something to him. Something probably happened to make him angry and now he wants revenge."

"Oh."

"So, what? Are we going to walk up the mountain to try and find this guy?" Genesis asked.

"We may have to," Angeal said, shrugging. "What do you think, Seph?"

"We will stay in the village tonight; see what we can do about the monster. If it happens to be a summons, we go tract down its master. Two of us will scour the perimeter of the village while the attack is going on and see if there is anyone that does not seem as if they are part of the village. The other two will fight the monster," Sephiroth answered.

The other three men nodded, falling silent.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** Sorry, for not updating for a while, first, I got stuck on the last part, and I still don't like it, so please excuse me for the sucky job I did, and second, my computer and internet was being a jerk and always never letting me up load the document. Sorry, again, hope you like most of the chapter.

**Chapter 3**

It was silent. Too silent. All of the lights were on in the village, but the only people outside where Sephiroth and Genesis. Zack and Angeal were scouring the trees around the village. All were waiting for the monster to show up. It was around the time that all of the villagers were saying that the monster had been showing up.

Genesis stared at the trees, as if he could will the monster to show up already. They had been standing out here since before sunset. He was bored, cold, and _really_ wanted to get this over with. He stared toward one end of the village, Sephiroth watched the other. They all wanted to be ready when the monster arrived. Hopefully, they would be able subdue the monster, find its master and go home some time tomorrow.

Sephiroth scanned his side of the village, looking for any sign of an impending attack. He could feel eyes on him as the villagers peeked out their windows. Masamune rested in his hand, the seven foot long blade barely touching the ground, even in this relaxed position.

"When is this thing supposed to show up?" Genesis whined. Sephiroth didn't answer, wondering that very thing himself.

The villagers had said the monster usually showed up sometime between sunset and midnight. They had a few hours to go before midnight came around, so it might still be awhile before they got to see any action.

After a while, Genesis sat down, cold ground or not, he did not want to be standing in basically the same place for several hours. Sephiroth refused to do the same. He needed to be ready as soon as the monster showed up, and it would just waste time getting up off the ground, no matter if it only took seconds or less.

Of course, it was only a couple minutes before a loud roar snapped the silence and the shadow of a beast appeared, jumping on one of the buildings. Even with their enhanced vision, neither Sephiroth nor Genesis could clearly make out what the heck it was; only that it had large horns and a huge, muscular body.

"Now it decides to show up," Genesis muttered as he stood up to join Sephiroth.

* * *

><p>Zack and Angeal were several hundred yards into the forest when the beast decided to attack. When the screams started up, they tried to ignore it by walking in the direction that it had appeared that the monster had come from. They told themselves that they were helping the villagers by doing this, that they were saving them.<p>

Zack had a sad look on his face, knowing that people were dying and he wasn't down there trying to help them. He knew that Sephiroth and Genesis were down there, but he wasn't completely sure what they were doing to help them, since there was still pained screams filling the air. Angeal's thoughts weren't much better, but he was able to keep them from showing of his face.

They were silent as they trekked through the dense underbrush, keeping their ears pealed as they listened for someone hiding within. Several times, the bushes rustled, but when they stopped to confront the perpetrator, it happened to be some small, terrified animal running away from the village.

They walked all around the area that they thought that master of the beast would be in, even going just beyond where they could see the village, but they never found anyone. As they walked the perimeter of the village, they found nothing. It seemed that the one they were looking for had left their monster.

"_Leave."_

The voice filtered to them as they stopped, again in the direction the beast had come from. Both of them grabbed their weapons and quickly whirled to face whoever had spoken. But when they turned, all they saw was some type of red cloth waving as the sound of leather wings beat, lifting the cloth high off the ground before disappearing. But not before that mysterious voice floated down to them again.

"_Leave."_

Both SOLDIERs stared at the spot for a little while longer, wondering just what the hell happened. Finally, Zack snapped out of it and stepped forward, planning on trying to follow the red cloth.

"Zack, stop!" Angeal caught the back of Zack's shirt. "We can't go after it now. It disappeared; we need to get back to Seph and Gen."

Zack sighed, but nodded. "Okay. Let's go see how those villagers faired."

* * *

><p>Vincent landed in front of the cave he shared with both Chaos and Cloud, listening for any sings of fighting coming from within. He knew that his lover liked to push buttons, but he was afraid that if he pushed too hard, Cloud might just snap and attack him. Vincent would rather a war didn't break out between his two friends, especially for a stupid comment.<p>

He walked inside the dark cave, not needing any light to see where he was going. When he got back to the sleeping area that they all shared, he saw Cloud lying in his bed, sleeping. Chaos was nowhere to be found. Well, they definitely weren't fighting and killing each other. If Cloud had killed Chaos, or the other way around, the body would still be there and the one still alive, most likely, would've stayed up to tell him when he got back.

Besides, Cloud's sword, First Tsurugi, was still leaning against the wall by his head like it always was.

Both of them were much too proud to kill someone in their sleep—or, in Chaos's case, that would be too easy and not enough of a challenge.

Vincent walked over to the only other bed in the cavern, not perturbed in the least that his lover was missing. There was no chance that he had ventured out of the territory line. Out of all of them, Chaos was the one that disliked the humans the most, and he never even ventured toward that side of the border without Vincent with him.

He was not afraid that the two humans he had come across at the border, the ones that smelled different than any other human he had ever come across, would find or kill his lover. But he didn't think that they would heed his warning either. Humans rarely followed advice without knowing the reasons behind it, even if their instincts were telling them that same thing.

He just wondered where those two specific humans had come from. Their skin was too dark to be mountain folk, and their weapons were not ones used by the humans here. In fact, the swords looked like single-bladed versions of Cloud's sword.

Even more pressing than where they were from—or why their swords looked like Cloud's—was why they were _here_? Did the humans get themselves into some kind of trouble that they needed to call in help for themselves? Were there more with the strange humans?

Vincent didn't really care what the humans did, as long as they didn't disturb him or his family. If they decided to come into their territory, the demons would not hesitate to push them back out, even if it means killing several of them.

"Vinnie! There you are!" a voice called from the entrance of the cavern.

Vincent looked up to see Chaos walking slowly toward him, covered in a dark red substance that smelled delicious to him. Vincent stared hungrily at his lover. "Hello, Chaos. I see you have gotten blood all over you."

The horned demon smiled seductively. "Are you going to help me clean it off?"

As the two got involved with themselves, they didn't notice as Cloud got up, grabbed his sword, and walked away.

* * *

><p>The monster completely ignored them when Sephiroth or Genesis tried to take a stab at it. They never landed a hit since it just seemed to get tired of what it had been doing and move on to something else. Both of them were getting fed up with all of their plans failing. And the villagers weren't helping, either.<p>

Even Genesis's spells weren't working.

"How the fuck are we supposed to hit this thing if it keeps moving like that! It hasn't really even noticed us!" Genesis complained after his tenth—or was it twentieth? Thirtieth?—fire spell missed its mark.

Sephiroth stood slightly to the side, studying the monster's movements. The villagers were screaming, running around with their arms waving in the air like maniacs, as a few more people got killed or injured. They were yelling at them to do something, even though they already were, but the monster didn't seem to be fazed by it.

Sephiroth hefted Masamune, pointing it straight at the monster. He charged, keeping his blade level with the ground pointing straight at the beast. The sword lodged into the monster's hide, finally causing it to turn around, roaring. He had to use his enhanced speed to get away before the monster's tail sent him flying.

Genesis tried to aim for the wound, which only aggravated the beast.

Obviously, it wasn't used to anyone trying to oppose it.

Suddenly, a large paw was slashing through the air, the tips of the talons managing to hit both of them. Both SOLDIERs jumped back, ignoring their new injuries. They both attacked at the same time, but the monster somehow shot fire back at them, and then turned tail and ran back into the trees.

Sephiroth and Genesis stared after it, before looking at the damage that it had created. It didn't seem to be much more than it had been before, but it was more than they had hoped would happen.

This may be harder than they thought.


	4. Chapter 4

**I would like everyone to remember that Seph and Gen were hurt by the monster. Please don't kill me for what happens in the end, I need it to happen.**

**Chapter 4**

"Why are we climbing up death mountain again?" Zack whined, trudging up the trails behind the other three First classes He may have hiked the mountain a bit last night, but now he was convinced that the mountain was going to kill him, thanks to that red cloth and creepy voice he and Angeal had heard the night before.

"Because whoever you two heard last night is hiding something. That something will probably have something to do with the monster that attacks the village, and I want to know what that something is," Sephiroth answered.

Zack couldn't think of a real argument for that, not that arguing against _Sephiroth_ would work very well, but that never stopped him. "But couldn't you have left me back at the inn? The villagers could probably use some protection."

"Can't handle a couple monsters, puppy?" Genesis mocked.

Angeal slapped the back of his head. "Stop it." He wrapped his arm around Zack's shoulders, pulling him close as they continued to walk. Silently, the group trekked through the forest. It didn't take long for them to pass the point where Zack and Angeal had seen the cloth, but they didn't stop. Instead, they continued hiking, convinced that whatever that person was, he was hiding somewhere beyond that point.

They saw only a few monsters, killing the ones that had decided that they might make a good meal. Eventually, they came upon several trees that had deep gash marks, as well as footprints on the ground. The gashes looked as if they had been made by a large sword, and as they looked around, the SOLDIERs saw the gashes on trees all over the place. Sephiroth studied both the gashes and the footprints, but the footprints were all over the place, showing that they owner had been working on their swordsmanship, or just hacking away frustration.

"Well, at least we know that there is someone up here," Zack commented as they tried to follow the footprints in the snow. Tried because they lost track of them several times, only to pick up a different path several yards away, some newer, some older. The way that all sets of footprints were pointing the same direction—or going away, depending of the way the feet had been directed—told them that the owner knew where they were going and wasn't just some lost villager.

Suddenly, a loud _BANG_ sounded, followed by the sound of clashing steel. Someone was yelling something, but they couldn't figure out what they were saying. They listened to what they assumed was a fight, as well as trying to make out what the person was saying, another voice occasionally breaking in. Finally, the clang stopped, which was soon followed by another gun shot.

Sephiroth gestured to the others as he crept forward. Whoever this was had proven that they had weapons, and that they most likely weren't wanted here, so, in response, the SOLDIERs would treat this as something akin to a stealth mission.

As they slowly made their way forward, eyes peeled for incoming attacks, they found themselves in front of a cave. A deep one by the looks of it. Zack opened his mouth to say something, but Angeal quickly clamped his hand over his mouth. The leader of their small group made to creep up to the entrance, but someone shifted their weight and a twig snapped. It was followed _very_ quickly by an angry roar.

A demonic creature with bent horns and large leathery wings came flying out of the cave, claws aimed at Sephiroth's face and heart. However, right before he could make it, two others, these two more human looking, besides the wings, appeared. The one in the red cape grabbed the first one's ankle and pulled him back. The one dressed in black with blond, spiky hair and deep blue eyes stepped in front of them, pointing a unique buster sword at them.

Sephiroth and Genesis both paused for the barest second to stare at the blond one. He was beautiful, but they both shook it off. No matter how he looked, he was likely an enemy and it would not be good to distract themselves by admiring his looks.

"Why!?" the first one cried in anger, struggling against the arms that held him. "Why are you stopping me? Trespassers!"

"Quiet, Chaos!" the blond snapped. He then smiled coldly. "Why don't we see what our guests want before we allow you to … entertain them."

Angeal stepped forward, holding his hands up. "We are just looking for the person responsible for the monster terrorizing the people of Nibelheim."

The red-eyed one shook his head. "You should've left." At his voice, both Zack and Angeal's head snapped up.

"You!" Zack exclaimed. "You're the one that warned us last night."

"You what!?" Chaos cried, turning to stare incredulously at the one that still held him.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, and he drew Masamune. "You are the ones responsible."

Chaos cried out in anger again, struggling harder. The one holding him only tightened his arms. The blond didn't even blink at the yells and accusations coming from behind him. Zack, however, hid behind Genesis as the demon practically begged the other two to let him kill them for 'trespassing' and 'accusing them of going near the humans'.

"We don't even know what is going on with the humans," the blond answered. "We never go past our border in that direction. None of us are responsible for any of the human's problems."

"Any why should we believe what you say? You already promised you friend he could kill us," Genesis pointed out.

Blondie shrugged. "Your right. You'll be dead long before the other villagers notice you're not coming back. You don't have to believe us."

"We just want to help out the villagers," Zack offered.

He stared coldly at him. "I don't care. Whatever is happening with them is not bothering us."

"Why don't you care about what is happening to the people around you?"

The blonde's black, leathery wings spread out behind him, looking rather intimidating. "You really think you humans would accept us? We are different, and, in your mind, therefore evil."

"Just because you're different doesn't make you evil. We're different from normal people, and we're not evil."

"You are not demons," the red-eyed one stated, as all of the demons narrowed their eyes, looking confused.

"Nope! We're SOLDIER," Zack grinned, but this explanation served to only confuse them further. "You know, injected with mako. Superhuman strength. The works."

"Why would you inject yourselves with mako?"

"… um … because it gives you all of this awesome extra stuff!"

The blond, who was surely their leader, looked back at his companions. All of the demons looked utterly confused. The red-eyed demon shook his head while the one in his arms looked to still be trying to figure it out. Finally, the leader let out a sigh, shaking his head.

"Chaos, do you want your fun now?"

"FINALLY!"

* * *

><p>Cloud watched calmly as Vincent finally let Chaos go. He watched as the strange humans scrambled back, drawing their weapons to try and ward him off. The one with long silver hair and the one with short, non-spiky black hair stood in front of the other two, protecting them.<p>

He couldn't figure out why these humans injected themselves with such a dangerous substance. Mako was toxic, and not to be messed with. But apparently, some idiot decided to play with it, and endanger their own species lives while doing it. And what the spiky black-haired one had said seemed to be true by the way they seemed to be able to fend of Chaos. Barely.

Vincent stepped up to stand beside him, watching equally as passively. "It seems that they are stronger than normal humans. If they weren't, they'd have been dead by now, and Chaos wouldn't be playing with them."

Cloud nodded, watching as Chaos used a clawed hand to slash a large gash into the youngest one's chest. That only made the other three attack with more vigor, instead of trying to get away like they had been. The demon brought his wings into play, knocking back the attacks if they got too close.

By a wing to the chest, the redhead got knocked into a tree, a loud snap sounding when Chaos' wing slammed into his ribcage. The silverette narrowed his eyes in anger, raising up his long sword to decapitate him, but Chaos grabbed the blade, uncaringly creating a deep gash in his palm, and yanked on the blade. He wasn't able to get the blade out of his hand, but the owner did stumble forward a bit.

Chaos let go of the sword, doing a back flip, somehow managing to knock the large sword out of the older brunette's hand, and knocking him back into a tree. The silverette charged again, but this time, Chaos picked up one of the other swords and engaged him in a sword duel.

"He's not killing them," Vincent noted.

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. He's never done that before."

Suddenly, Chaos laughed, holding his stolen sword to the silverette's neck. He grinned back at the other two demons. "They would make good pets, don't you thing?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow while Vincent shook his head. "There's your answer, Cloud."

"And where would we keep them, Chaos?" Cloud asked, strangely not opposed to the idea. They looked like decent fighters, but the silverette and redhead looked hurt and exhausted, even before they had fought Chaos.

Chaos grinned. "In our beds, of course!"

Cloud couldn't help but smirk. "Having trouble with him, Vincent?"

Vincent glared at him.

The redhead tried to stumble to his feet, holding his ribs with a snarl on his face. "You can't take us."

Chaos grinned, momentarily switching his gaze from the silverette he still held at sword point to the one who had spoken. "I just beat all of you, and you think you can get away from us?"

"We are SOLDIER First Class from the Shinra Electric Power Company," the older brunette interceded. "If you take us prisoner, you will have an entire army of genetically enhanced soldiers at your doorstep."

"And how will they find us?" Cloud asked. "None of the humans down in the village know we are here, much less where our cave is. More than likely, your _army_ will burn and kill all of those humans long before they ever even find out about us." The man seemed to pause at that.

"Chaos, do you really want to keep them?" Vincent asked, walking up behind his lover.

Chaos nodded, smiling. "They would be fun to play with, I think."

"Cloud, what do you think?"

Cloud smirked. "Leave me out of this. It's your relationship hanging in the balance." Both of the other demons glared at him, causing his smirk to widen as he stepped back with his hands up in a surrender gesture.

Vincent turned away and studied the defeated men, who all looked like they were trying to figure out how to get away. "You may keep them, then. But you will have to do most of the care for them."

Chaos nodded his understanding, grinning at his new pets.

* * *

><p>Zack was scared. He didn't want to belong to these strange people—demons, creatures, things—and he could tell by their expressions that neither 'Geal, Gen, nor Seph had any idea how to get out of this. They had been defeated, when nothing else had been able to do that before. He just sat there as the demon healed him, staring hopefully at Angeal.<p>

All of their weapons were confiscated and thrown at the blond, who just dodged them while giving Chaos a dry look. Eventually, once everyone was healed, they were herded by sword—Angeal's sword—and gun point into the cave, the blond only watching them with an amused look.

"You want one or two, Cloud?" Chaos called back as they got to a cavern with two beds on either side of the 'room'.

A growl sounded as the blond, Cloud, appeared from behind them and walked over to one of the beds. "I rather like my space, no matter how much you two decide to kick me out of it with your trysts."

Chaos shrugged. "Suit yourself. Where should we put them, Vinnie?"

'Vinnie' just waved his hand at the rest of the room as he walked over to the remaining bed. "Anywhere you want them to be, Chaos."

Chaos scanned the cave. "Let's see …"


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for taking so long, but I get side tracked a lot when it comes to writing. And I have a tremendous amount of stories I'm trying to write, all at the same time. And about half of them are original works, so you will have to wait until I get them published before you even have a chance at reading them.**

**Well, I hope you like the chapter, even if it is a bit short.**

**Chapter 5**

Cloud knew that Chaos' new pets were awake, and moving about the cavern much quieter than he thought a human capable of. No doubt they had found their 'hidden' weapons. Chaos really needed to learn to hide things properly. And to tie up new slaves that would very much like to kill them all.

As soon as his eyes popped open, he saw that the humans were indeed moving about. He also noticed that the youngest was standing at the head of his bed, staring at his sword. He seemed rather fascinated, tracing the edges of the connected swords.

For some reason, he didn't feel like any danger was going to come from letting him study the fusion sword, and turned most of his attention to the other three, who were looking around the cave, periodically glancing at the slumbering demons. Eventually, the redhead met his gaze, his eyes narrowing in anger.

"Zackary, get away from him!" he hissed.

"Huh?" was the very intelligent reply as the one looking at the sword switched his gaze to the redhead.

Cloud decided that it was no use to pretend to be asleep and sat up, causing Zackary to yelp in surprise, falling back. He just glanced at him, keeping his gaze mostly on the other three. His gazed past them long enough to notice that Vincent was awake; his breathing was too shallow.

The three older humans pointed their blades at Cloud, backing away so they could see Vincent and Chaos as well, as the youngest scrambled over to them. "Don't try and stop us," the redhead threatened.

Cloud shrugged, scooting back on the bed so he could lean against the wall. "I don't care what you do as long as your actions don't threaten me or my family."

His eyes narrowed, anger flashing through them. "That is exactly what you did for us!"

"You came into our territory and accused us of something we didn't do. I'm sure it would've been amusing to do, but not for as long as you make it sound like it's been happening."

"Then who is doing it?" Zackary asked.

Cloud shrugged again. "I don't know. I do know, however, that there is no one this far up the mountain besides us. You would have better luck finding your perpetrator going the other way from the village."

"So … you're not going to kills us?"

"I don't know. … I haven't decided yet."

"Um." He glanced back at his friends, but slowly stepped forward, causing his friends to tense. "Well, I'm Zack. That's Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth." He pointed to each one in turn, but only Angeal even attempted to be friendly by smiling.

Cloud was okay with that. He didn't need anyone acting friendly when they actually despised him. It just made them look stupid. And he just didn't want to deal with people like that. He much preferred people act like themselves and show how they feel about him instead of acting like they liked him and getting his hopes up. Only to break off a little bit more of his sanity when they showed their true disgust.

"Cloud."

Zack grinned, perking up for some reason. "Cloud! That's a beautiful name! Your eyes look like the sky. No, deeper. I don't even know what they look like …"

Cloud briefly wondered what was wrong with him. No one, not even Vincent or Chaos, had said they liked his name. And his reaction seemed genuine, but he guessed it was possible that he could be really good at hiding his real emotions.

Suddenly, a loud yawn sounded from the other bed. Cloud glanced over to see Chaos shifting and somewhat snuggling into Vincent's chest. The four humans froze, staring at him, seeming to wait with baited breath. Finally, Chaos settled back down and fell back to sleep. But it caused Vincent's eyes to open, his gaze, which met Cloud's, sparkled with amusement.

Immediately, but silently, the humans' weapons pointed at the both of them, Zack once again running back to the others. Vincent's eyes flicked over to them, not showing any signs of sleepiness, nor reaching for his gun to shoot any of them.

"Vincent."

"Cloud."

"Have you been awake this entire time?" Zack asked. When Vincent nodded, the other three tensed. They tensed even further when Chaos shifted again, burying his face in Vincent's neck.

Taking the cue, Cloud got up, strapped his sword, First Tsurugi, to his back, and started to walk out. "Come on. Unless, of course, you want to watch them. But that would probably end up getting you involved." The humans were quite willing to follow him after that.

They seemed to want to stop at the entrance, but Cloud kept walking, knowing how loud the other two demons could get. He walked through the trees to his usual 'sparring-by-myself' spot, not caring if the humans followed him or made a run for it. As it was, he could hear them arguing about it. It seemed that Zack wanted to stay and get to know Cloud—which just made Cloud _really_ want to know what was wrong with him. One of older ones wanted to kill all three demons. Another one wanted to do the same but also agreed with the last one, who suggested that they just make a run for it and try to get back to Nibelheim before the demons noticed.

Cloud didn't worry about if they made a run from it, Chaos would just have to deal with it.

"Cloud," Zack suddenly called out, scampering over to stand in front of the demon. "Are you sure that you don't know who is hurting the villagers?"

Cloud shook his head. "I don't care if anyone wants to wipe them out. It's a waste of time, in my opinion."

"Why do you not care about them? I get that you're different than them, but surely that can't be the only reason you despise."

"I don't despise them, I just don't see any reason that they should have my sympathy when they would immediately call me a monster the second they caught sight of me."

Zack's face fell slightly. "Oh … Maybe that's just the people around here. In Midgar, the city where we come from, the people are a bit more accepting and not as superstitious."

"A bit?"

"Well … there are always some people who are like that. But the people I'm usually around are used to weird and unusual—"

"Usually caused by you," Genesis muttered.

"—So, it surely wouldn't be too hard to accept what you are," Zack finished, ignoring the redhead.

Humans that can see past differences from themselves? Cloud didn't think it was possible. Never in his life had he ever met a human that could do that. But these ones, particularly Zack, seemed to be able to see past what so many others could not. It was very hard to wrap his mind around.

Cloud shook his head, desperately wanting to believe the porcupine-like human, but he knew that more than likely, he would be deceiving himself. He had spent too much of his life as a non-human outcast to be able to trust so easily.

"I doubt it."

He turned away, drawing his sword and proceeded to start with his kata, special for a sword like his.

* * *

><p>Zack watched as Cloud swung his unique sword. He really wanted to ask why his sword looked like that, but he was more concerned on why he didn't believe him. Why did Cloud think that all humans would persecute him? Surely, if he tried, the villagers would accept him.<p>

Glancing back, Zack saw that the other three were watching just as the demon's sword made a strange sound for not hitting anything. Turning back, he saw that the blonde's sword had split in two. And for some reason, as Cloud continued to twirl, he stuck one in the ground and separated another one and continued.

"How many blades does that thing split into?" Genesis muttered as he stuck that one in the ground, too, and pulled out another one.

The four of them watched until Cloud ended up with two blades in his hands, arms stretched out to the side after having created two more gashes in the tree in front of him. It was evident that the one in his right hand, the one that the others had broken off of, was only one blade now. The other four that made up the unique fusion sword stuck out of the ground in a jagged line behind him.

Suddenly, Cloud started moving again, after having been standing in the same spot for a few moments, and did the kata backwards, picking up his discarded blades, and ending up almost exactly where he started, calmly placing the sword back in the harness on his back. He stared at them, meeting each of their gazes before turning away again and walking off.

"Let's follow him!" Zack said, already taking a set to go after the blonde demon.

"Puppy, stop," Angeal said, grabbing the collar of Zack's shirt before he could run off. "We need to figure out what we are going to do. Cloud may have been nice enough to let us out of the cave, but what about the possibility of him dragging us back there if we stay with him?"

"I kind of want to follow him for a bit," Genesis put in. He was staring after the demon with a strange look in his eye, one that Angeal and Zack had only seen in his gaze when he looked at Sephiroth. They wondered if Sephiroth would be jealous because of this, but when they looked, he was watching the demon too, except his eyes showed no emotion.

For the barest second, Sephiroth's eyes switched to look at Angeal and nodded at him before going back to staring at the back of the demon walking in the other direction. Zack squealed with happiness before turning and scampering off after the blond demon.

"Cloud! Wait up!"

The demon didn't stop, nor did he slow down, but he did turn his head slightly to indicate that he heard the man.

"Cloud, wait! Can't we just talk for a little bit?"

"Why would you want to talk with me?"

**Hope you liked it!**

**Me and my friend started an Ask Final Fantasy VII blog on tumblr. Basically, you pick a FFVII character, though we aren't doing all of them, only the ones we actually know, or you can ask all of them. You send an ask and we will get back to you, having whatever character(s) you asked answer. Sometimes, if your lucky, you will get a picture to help answer it. Please check it out.**

**Askffvii . tumblr . com**

**(remember to take out the spaces)**


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